Browsing by Author "Fredericks, Jordan Shain"
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- ItemDemocratic deconsolidation: An analysis of South Africa’s democratic regress during the Zuma years(2019-12) Fredericks, Jordan Shain; De Jager, Nicola; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Studies of democracy have recently shown that not only are democracies globally experiencing signs of democratic deconsolidation, but evincing a regression towards authoritarianism. This is evident in a growing lack of support amongst citizens for democratic regimes, who are often opened to non-democratic alternatives. Deconsolidation has been particularly evident in contexts where poor governance has failed to deliver the economic and political goods expected by citizens in a democratic regime. South Africa, which is the case under analysis, has been manifesting such signs of deconsolidation. This is because civic society has, not only become disillusioned with the quality of governance amid growing scandals of corruption and nepotism under the Zuma administration, but increasingly open to radical populist ideas. While there are studies drawing on theories of democratic consolidation to analyse South Africa’s democracy, there has been limited inquiry based on the analytical approach of democratic deconsolidation. Furthermore, few have applied a holistic approach in analysing the state of South Africa’s current democracy. It is this deficit that the study addresses through an analysis of South Africa’s democracy during the years of the Zuma administration. The research questions motivating this study are whether South Africa’s democracy deconsolidated structurally, attitudinally and behaviourally during the Zuma administration, and whether poor governance – understood as being partisan to personal or special relationships -facilitated the process of deconsolidation. In addressing the research problem, this study usesan analytical framework of democratic deconsolidation adopted from the work of Schedler (2001) and others such as Foa and Mounk (2017) to construct the conditions which are indicative of the deconsolidation process: poor governance (as an instigator), weak structures, negative attitudes and disruptive behaviour. This study finds that South Africa’s democracy has deconsolidated structurally, attitudinally and behaviourally – and that poor governance has been particularly instrumental in facilitating this process. The study shows that the overarching national project of the ANC – the National Democratic Revolution and its concomitant strategy of cadre deployment – served as a catalyst for the state capture project and the web of patronage under the Zuma administration. In deploying loyalists into key positions and being partisan to personal considerations, the Zuma administration undermined the impartial aspirations of the Constitution. The result is that, structurally, the web of patronage under Zuma has degenerated into a culture of disdain for constitutional governance, as typified in cases such as the Nkandla dispute. Moreover, it is Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za iii shown that the economic cost of poor governance has been dire, as indicated by the rising rates of unemployment, poverty and inequality amid ailing parastatals such as Eskom. This study shows that, attitudinally, poor government performance has eroded South Africans’ faith in democracy and made former supporters of democracy receptive to non-democratic (populist) parties, such as the EFF. The openness to radicalism has also been accompanied by an upsurge in violent protest action as a response to the government’s poor performance. While these conditions clearly point to South Africa’s democracy deconsolidating, deconsolidation itself it not an end state but a process that can be reversed.